Removing The Stigma and Shame of Struggling with Anxiety
Maggie Ullrich is a mom whose mission is to normalize anxiety. She is the host of the Crazy Sexy Anxiety Podcast and ranked 43rd in the BODi network (formally Beachbody).
Today, Maggie and I talked about anxiety and becoming an overcomer. And finding meaning and purpose in the midst of our challenges.
Let’s dig in!
Scroll down to read the full episode transcribed.
What You Will Learn:
- Being open and honest about taking the anti-anxiety medicine.
- Creating a new narrative about anxiety.
- What to do with negative thoughts and how to avoid them overtaking you.
- The importance of community when we walk through difficult times.
- Walking a child through a tough emotional season.
- Our stories can be someone else’s survival guide.
Where to find Maggie:
Find more encouragement, wisdom, and resources:
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And here is the episode typed out!
Welcome to the Moms of Tweens and Teens Podcast. If some days you doubt yourself and don’t know what you’re doing. If you’ve ugly cried alone in your bedroom because you felt like you were failing. Well, I just want to let you know you are not alone, and you have come to the right place.
Raising tweens and teens in today’s world is not easy. And I’m on a mission to equip you to love well and to raise emotionally healthy, happy tweens and teens that thrive.
I believe that moms are heroes, and we have the power to transform our families and impact future generations. If you are looking for answers, encouragement, and becoming more of the mom and the woman that you want to be, welcome. I am Sheryl Gould. And I am so glad that you’re here.
SHERYL: Well, welcome Maggie to The Moms of Tweens and Teens Podcast. I’m just so excited to have you on the show.
MAGGIE: I’m excited to be here. And I just want to thank you so much for having me here.
SHERYL: Well, you’re welcome. And I love what we will talk about today because we will be talking about anxiety and becoming an overcomer. And finding meaning and purpose in the midst of our challenges.
So I cannot wait for this conversation. We’ve had a great time getting to know each other behind the scenes and with your energy. I just want everybody to know your energy is contagious. Like when I talk to you, I feel energized.
And you’re inspiring. And I also love your Instagram. It just makes me feel happy. I want you to share your story because you have a powerful story. And what led you to do what you’re doing today?
MAGGIE: Well, thank you again for having me, Sheryl. It’s such a pleasure to be on your show. And I love when people say to share your story. I’m like, oh gosh, it is just bad. Like, it’s so loaded, right? I think everybody has a story.
So these past ten years have been completely wild. I still can’t believe that this is my life. This is my story. I often say it’s my mess in a message, right? Yeah, it’s my mess. But guess what? I have a message throughout the mess.
After I had my second child, Jack, I fell into a downward spiral of anxiety. I was riddled with it. I got to a point where I was barely functioning. I was relying on Xanax just to get out of bed. I still had two kids to take care of. I hadn’t smiled or laughed and months.
And my husband, Mike, knew something was wrong. He was losing that woman he married, my kids had a robot of a mom, and I went through the motions of life. I wasn’t living. I was barely surviving. So I had to get on antidepressants because I needed them. I was so desperate because I was in this fog of life. And I knew that this wasn’t a way to live.
I still remember calling my OB then and saying, “I need help. I’m going crazy. Something’s going on with my mind, my body. This isn’t me.” And he said, Oh, well, sounds like you have postpartum depression. Most likely, postpartum anxiety. And I thought to myself, “Okay, no, only Brooke Shields has that.”
SHERYL: I remember Brooke Shields.
MAGGIE: I’m like, Oh my gosh, I have what she has. This is okay. And I, of course, thought like, I’m stronger than this. I’m better than this. Why do I need meds? But I knew I needed to go on them to get out of my head. So what – antidepressants? I started talk therapy.
I slowly started to feel better. But for me, something was still missing from all of it. I loved to exercise. Well, I won’t say loved, love, or hate. I did it because I needed it. But, after you do it, you feel so good. And you’re like, Hey, but I’ve always had movement.
I would always exercise, and one might say that I was even obsessed with going to the gym. But I never really worked out for the right reasons. I would drag my kids there and put them in the childcare. And they would get sick all the time because it’s so germy there. And I would go to the gym and do things I didn’t even know what I was doing.
But I would not leave the gym until it said I burned 1000 calories on my heart rate.
SHERYL: Yeah, wow. 1000 – you wanted to burn 1000 calories.
MAGGIE: Tell me about it. I don’t know what I look back to. I’m like, Who were you? I don’t know who I was. What happened was I gained weight from the antidepressants I took. And I thought, okay, well, the only way to lose weight is to work out, right? Because that’s what you do.
So I started to write down my calories. I had an app called Lose It. And I lost it because I started to become obsessive about adding my calories and what I was eating, and then I would go to the gym and try to burn off all the calories, and then I come home, and I would be starving.
I would put my kids down for a quiet time, their nap time, and I would invade the pantry. I would be elbow-deep and skinny pop, thinking it was skinny and healthy. And I would eat the whole bag because I would be starving.
And then I would be like, gosh, I would feel so discouraged because I wasn’t losing any weight. The scale wasn’t moving; I was doing all the work, and something was wrong, like something was missing here. So someone turned me on to Beachbody, which is now called BODi.
We’ve gone through a rebrand. Not sure if you’re familiar with the company, but it is a very well-known health-fitness mindset company that is incredible. And it’s transformed a lot of people’s lives. And this person that turned me onto it said, Why don’t you try these workouts? Try the nutrition. It’s different.
I said, Okay, I need to try something different. Because what I’m doing isn’t working, and how I was working out, you think I would be like Sports Illustrated. That is not how it was.
I thought, okay, so what? I have nothing to lose. I’m just going to do it. I’m going to try it. So I like to say like body Beachbody didn’t change my life. I changed my life. The Beachbody was just the tool that helped me get there. I started to learn to put myself first.
I didn’t consider being healthy as punishment or a chore like I had to go to the gym for two hours and work out. Or do I have to eat this healthy salad? I put it in perspective. Like I have this one life to live. I’ve got these two kids. I’m so blessed. I’m finally feeling back to me after being in such a dark hole for so long.
Why am I doing this myself? I deserve more. I said screw this. I’m going to get up early. So I started to get up early, like really early in the morning, at 5 or 530.
SHERYL: And that’s the worst.
MAGGIE: Oh my god, right there. That was like doomsday. I’m like, Oh my god. That set the tone for the day. Right? I thought. So I can’t start my days like this anymore. So I got up early so I’d have time for myself.
Before the rest of the house got up, I would do my workout, and with BODi, you just do it at home. And for me, that cut out so much extra time of the gym, the commute, the childcare, trying to work that all out, so it was just very accessible and convenient.
I would make my Shakeology, a body supplement I swear by and have in my daily routine. For the past seven or eight years, I have made coffee, and I would sit in silence. Sometimes I would just sit there.
And sometimes, I would just write notes down in a journal. I would practice gratitude. I would write down a to-do list for the day. I would write down some things I feel happy about or positive affirmations. And I knew that just taking that five minutes out of the day would help me become a better mom and just a better human overall.
SHERYL: Yeah, I love so many things that you said about we need to change our mindset. All those negative thoughts can crowd, and one of mine is the same as yours, like getting up in the morning and having quiet time. And I didn’t do it today.
I better do it after we get off of this to spend a little bit of time. After all, I slept in a bit then I was off to the races in that scarcity mindset. And it does make a difference for us, whatever that is.
Being able to figure out what is my thing? What do I need? And I’m wondering what flips the switch for you because some moms are on here. And they’re thinking, I’m depressed, I’m stuck, I have anxiety, I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. And so what flipped? What do you think flipped that for you?
MAGGIE: That’s a really good question. I will tell you when I went on the medicine, I almost got a second chance at life. I knew that I did not want to go backward. I had that fear that I would relapse and I’d be back in my dark hole.
And my husband would be sitting me down again and having that heart-to-heart talk with me. And I did not want to go back there. So that’s when I realized if I don’t change the way I think and feel about myself, there is a risk that may happen. And I also started to read a lot of self-development books.
If you spend 30-40 minutes moving your body and exercising, there’s no excuse for not moving your mind and when and how it should be. So I just started during that quiet time. I started to pick up a book. I don’t even know what my first one was called. I would just see one at the library and grab it.
And at first, I didn’t think I needed self-help. I don’t think anybody does. It’s not like you’re gonna find yourself in the aisle of the Self-Help section at the librarian, you’re like, oh, maybe I could use this. Like, I feel the people that need it are the ones that realize that they don’t need it.
So I just started. I just started to read, and it helps me feel better about life. And my mind grew so much stronger. And it helped me navigate certain things in my life that were thrown at me.
I managed my triggers better, different stressors, different things, different triggers. So that is that’s the reason why I didn’t want to waste my life away. I knew that I had something to offer. And also with doing Beachbody after completing my first Beachbody program, I felt invigorated and hungry for much more.
As time went on, I started to change not only physically but mentally too. I always say people say oh, did you lose the weight from the antidepressants? I did. But to be honest with you, I did it for my mental health more than anything. The weight loss was a byproduct of getting my mind back to where it should be.
SHERYL: It’s almost symbolic in a way, like you were dropping lots of those beliefs, those limiting beliefs that we all have. And I just want to pause because one of the things I love about your Instagram and love about what you’re doing and your website and everything is that you destigmatize anxiety and depression and need medication.
A mom might be posting right now, and she’s in that place. I laughed because you had this post where you said my nail color matches Lexapro, and I take anti-anxiety medication and, even sometimes saying that or I have ADHD, I still get a little sliver of shame saying that out loud.
That is where we can help each other in many different ways, right? But that mom reached out to you and shared with me yesterday or today, tell our listeners what she said to you.
MAGGIE: So this woman I chatted with on Instagram before slid into my DMs. That’s what they say. And we would chat here and there, and she would open up to me about her story and how she’s been struggling, and there’s so much I can do.
I’m not a professional or expert. I’m more like a mom friend who can share what I’ve experienced and maybe give you advice. She just came out of nowhere. I have not talked to her in months. She messaged me yesterday, and she said I just want to thank you. I said, Oh, I said, You’re welcome. What did I do?
And she said, I have been on meds for a few months, and I feel like a different human. She said that because I’m so open and honest about taking an antidepressant or anti-anxiety medication, she realized nothing was wrong with it. And that’s something that we need to stop. We need to stop the narrative in our minds. And the judgments and shame.
SHERYL: Yes, yes.
MAGGIE: I mean, I always say to a lot of my clients, how is this different from a diabetic who needed insulin? If you have high blood pressure, you take high blood pressure medicine, which saves you, and this saves me.
So I have a great relationship with Lexapro. I am very open about it. I feel as though it has completely changed the way I think about things. I still struggle with people being so like, quote, unquote, embarrassed to say they’re on Lexapro or an antidepressant. Or they need it. That’s where I struggle.
SHERYL: Yeah. And that’s why your message is powerful, too, because it puts it out in the open. And just like that mom who messaged you. And it’s hard when you have depression. Mine’s more anxiety. I don’t have the depression piece.
But I know people that have struggled with depression, and you get so stuck in your head, and you’re walking around with a black cloud all the time. And it’s so paralyzing, and it’s a chemical imbalance.
But before we jumped on, you’re like, but it’s not the whole answer. And how we have to rewire our brains as well. And somebody was just sharing some research the other day with me about how research is being done, and I already knew this, but it just solidified that we have neural pathways. And if we’re used to going those neural pathways to the negative, anxiety, or dark thoughts that are trapped, that’s trailblaze, right? That’s where our circuitry is going to go.
And so finding those things that we need to rewire our brain and put the positive in. And that’s what we’re saying, those self-help books. I love listening to Audible books, too. As I can be, I’m really into the negative today.
And so, how am I going to get myself more energized and out of this and listen to an audible book? I hear the messages, and then all of a sudden, I’m like, okay, good, good input. And that is helping me and then the move your body piece.
So crazy, sexy anxiety. I love the name of that. We’ve already said you’re gonna write a book about that is such a good name. And you have an acronym for Crazy Sexy Anxiety. And I guess, first, just to ask, what made you start it?
MAGGIE: So crazy, sexy anxiety was, I guess, boring. Last year around this time, I always shared my story, my struggles, and how I overcame them on my social media platforms, but I never really termed it as a high event.
I have anxiety, and I had hired an actual brand strategist, and she came in and said, we need to make this fun. And I said crazy, sexy anxiety. Let’s just do it because we need to kind of bring a little bit of fun, and we need to normalize anxiety. It can be fun. It was anxiety can’t be fun when you’re waiting.
SHERYL: You say positively can be fun.
MAGGIE: There you go. There you go. Thank you, Sheryl. So and it is an acronym C is crazy, sexy, and crazy, sexy anxiety is an acronym, but I also have a bracelet that I offer up on my website with a CSA on beads.
I wish I had this bracelet years ago when I was laying in bed, and I would watch Friends when my kids would nap, or I put them in bed with me because I literally could not do anything else.
And I would watch Friends, which was a great distraction. And I thought to myself, if I had this bracelet, I’d feel less alone because other women are wearing this. They are using it. So the C is a part that also is an acronym for how to rewire.
As you said, Sheryl, practice those negative thoughts you have tried to remove from your mind as best as you can. So the c part is the claim. So when I was struggling, I would have these irrational thoughts. And I don’t want to trigger anybody, but they were really bad. Just think that would happen to my kids, or one would be Mike, my husband would just leave me one day and take the kids. And it would continue.
It was almost a catastrophic thought I would live alone with many cats, and my kids would disown me. I mean, that is how far it would go. And those thoughts would manifest physically. And that’s where the paralyzation came in. So what thought came to my mind? I tried hard to just claim it.
SHERYL: That would be the C that looks like how you claim it.
MAGGIE: I recognize that it’s almost like watching traffic. Pretend like you’re sitting on the side of the road. You’re watching the cars pass by those are your thoughts. Okay. And you’re trying hard not to have a massive buildup of cars. So just pretend those cars are just thoughts. And when a negative thought comes to mind, just watch it pass by like traffic.
So claim it as just a thought like, there’s nothing wrong with you that you’re having this thought. You’re not bad.
SHERYL: We’re so judgmental and critical. Love mindfulness. It’s just speaking so much kinder to whatever that thought is because, like you said, that catastrophe is a cognitive it’s called cognitive distortion. We fortune tell, then we catastrophize what we’re good at as moms with our kids, and then we’re off. We’re on that hamster wheel, and it just builds and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. Rather than there it is.
MAGGIE: Exactly. So you claim it as a thought. It’s just a thought. Who cares? Let it go. And then say it out loud, Maggie, it’s just a silly thought. It’s just a thought. Just if you say it out loud, that also kind of recognizes the fact that it’s not you. It’s not who you are.
And then the eighth part is active, take action, get up, walk, put the laundry away, and do something that will distract you. And so that would take action. That would be the action part of the eight-part CSA claim. It says it takes action.
One, I want to share a story with you. When I was really at the height of what I would call an anxiety attack that lasted weeks, it was at the point where Xanax wasn’t even working anymore for me. And I remember calling my mom and dad crying.
Mike, my husband, was right next to me. My kids were little; I think they were already asleep. And he didn’t know what to say or do. He wanted to shake me and say you have no idea how blessed you are. Why are you acting this way? Is it because when you don’t have anxiety, you don’t understand what someone else is experiencing? Yeah, yeah, it does.
So I remember calling my mom and dad because they are my lifeline. And I started to cry. I said, Mom, something’s going on with me. I’m having these awful thoughts. And they won’t go away, and I can’t function, and my mom said, you need to talk to dad, and passed the phone to my dad.
Now my dad is a Vietnam War veteran. He suffered extreme like extreme PTSD. Except it wasn’t called that back then. There was nothing to treat any mental health issues back then.
And I told him exactly what I was feeling. And he said, Maggie, I want you to know something. I said, yeah, he’s like, those are just thoughts. You are never going to act on those thoughts. You are not those thoughts. And I thought hearing that, not just from my dad, you’re not just hearing somebody tell me from, almost like another person who gets it.
Like, you’re gonna be okay, we’re gonna work on this, we’re going to work it out, and you’re going to be just fine. We’re gonna get through it. So that moment, I’m like, Alright, I need to get on meds. I need to figure this out. I need to come up with a plan. I cannot be like this anymore.
So yes, to answer your question. That’s how kind of crazy sexy anxiety became about. And that’s another reason why I started the podcast. When I was starting to search when I was searching for help, I craved a support system. I was talking to a doctor, and a therapist, taking the meds and doing things, but I needed a community.
I needed a group of moms that got me. I needed someone to look up to, someone I could relate to when I was first diagnosed. I came home and googled that because I didn’t know what this was. And what popped up was a bunch of therapists near me, medical journals, and articles. I was looking for blog posts of moms that are like this.
I didn’t sleep last night because I was thinking about my child starting kindergarten. Whatever it is like, I wanted that. There was nothing out there, Sheryl, nothing. I felt so alone. And that’s when my mom gave me Brooke Shield’s book. And I was like, oh, and I would read that book repeatedly. And maybe that’s what helps me. That kind of got me in the self-development field and reading the books.
But, it is isolating when you can’t find your people. So fast forward to now. I mean, there are unlimited resources out there. Thank gosh, for someone who’s struggling with anxiety postpartum, specifically. But as Sheryl, I know we talked about this before the show, there’s still a hole in the market.
I knew that I needed to help other moms. I did. I hadn’t found someone who talked about anxiety as a part of them. And that’s where I was like, Okay, why not open up another platform and have women moms listen to this and know that it’s okay to have these moments? It’s okay.
Because you’re not alone, and it does not define you. You are not your anxiety. Anxiety doesn’t own you like your diabetes doesn’t own you.
So, the podcast is raw. It’s real. We are we have open conversations. Sheryl, you were on my show. I’m an everyday Mom, just like you. And I like to have experts that will help my listeners and leave them with action steps of what they can do to take away.
SHERYL: So you are inspiring and keep it real, which we need. And I love that. I want to talk about your daughter’s suffering from anxiety, and I appreciate you also talking about that. Because I’ve struggled with anxiety, and we have a way that that can be, our kids can suffer with that as well.
When we have anxiety, it can be passed down through the generations, and we’re breaking those cycles to be more understanding. But I do talk to moms a lot because kids are struggling with anxiety, and you’re talking about it was hard for your husband to understand because he didn’t have it.
I remember having anxiety as a kid, and my mom meant well, but she’d be like, you have so much to be grateful for. And okay, I should be grateful, but I’m anxious. Or kids don’t feel like they want to or don’t want to go to school now because anxiety is so big.
But to a parent, it might seem little, like, what do you mean? You don’t want to go to school. You need to go to school. And, of course, you want them to go to school, but talk a little about your journey and supporting your daughter. Because I know so many of our listeners are in this place now.
MAGGIE: Oh, and that is where I have a teen and a tween. So I feel like I’m navigating unchartered territories here. So that’s where I lean into someone like you, Sheryl, because that’s where I need the support. And I no longer like thinking about and having fear about my kids going to kindergarten or being kidnapped or whatever.
But it’s other strange thoughts as it’s not all rainbow, rainbows, and unicorns. So, backtrack. Madeline, my daughter, she’s now 14. A couple of years ago, she expressed to me, and I still remember that day we were driving. I was taking her to a friend’s house.
And she told me, Mom, I think I have anger issues. And I said, Well, what makes you think that, and she went on, and she told me how she would scratch her arms and legs. And they thought, okay, so she’s relieving a lot of her anger using self-harm.
And I was like, oh, my gosh, I’ve never experienced anything like this. And as a mom, I knew she needed professional help. And this is beyond me hugging her and telling her it would be okay. Or you have so much to be blessed for.
I’ve not walked in her shoes, but I know what it’s like to have – It’s hard to express or relieve any negative thinking, right? So we got her into therapy right away. And that helps immensely. And she found healthier ways to relieve her anger and panic attacks. But it won’t cure you, and you will still have balls thrown at you. And you are going to be triggered. And last year, Madeline tore her ACL and had to undergo very invasive surgery.
Okay, I look back and think, how was I not cuckoo? Another thing is like, I feel like what I have, like what I’ve done these past five years, is what prepared me for all these things that will happen. So, she went through the surgery and was taken out of everything that brought her joy.
Cheerleading, softball, even dancing on TikToks, you couldn’t do that anymore. Her passing periods at school were taken away. She was taking the elevator by herself.
So she missed that social part of being with her friends. All of a sudden, poof, gone. And she spiraled. She spiraled this last year, relapsed, and was harmed. And her panic attacks are triggered by girl drama, stress from homework, and negative self-image.
SHERYL: The moms are relating to that. So painful as a parent to watch this and feel powerless around helping them or how to help them or, like you said, unchartered territory, even though you understood.
I started when my oldest struggled as a tween. I think I’ve told you this. I started having panic attacks again, like retriggered my panic with her having it. You just felt that panic, not wanting her to go through what you went through.
MAGGIE: Yeah. Ah, powerless, as you said, and it did trigger many of my experiences when I was her age and things that I remember. So yes, it did trigger a lot of memory. But I was able to share that with her.
I feel like it’s so important to talk with your kids. She went from age 13 to 14 and got her first period three days after her surgery. And she went through a lot of changes., she grew like three inches, she gained weight, which is to be expected, and she was struggling mentally. So my daughter was suffering.
So these panic attacks started, and they got really bad. So, of course, my husband and I decided she needed professional help. And again, it has been wonderful. She’s starting to now get back to her activities. And she’s starting to cope with many things happening at school, developing a healthier relationship with her body, and realizing that this is okay.
I don’t even know what TikTok star she watches anymore. But she is. I love her. She’s my hero. And I always tell her that this will be part of her story. Like she’s going to be a mom telling her kids Oh, when I was 14, I tore my ACL, and I know what you’re experiencing. And I tell her – her story will be somebody’s Survival Guide someday.
And even though I’m just her mom, she always says, Mom, you’re just saying that because you’re my mom. And you have to say that. I know she’s listening. And that’s what’s so important they are listening and watching.
And even though they may not be in the mood to talk to you. I still ask the questions. And I want her to know that I will always be here for her when she is in the mood.
SHERYL: Wow, that’s so powerful. I feel like I could get choked up by her story. What did you say about her story? Is her survival guide?
MAGGIE: It’s her story. And it’s going to be someone’s survival. Even like your story, Sheryl, and my story. It’s so important to share it because you’re holding back some gifts that you have. When you don’t share your story, that can impact and help somebody else.
SHERYL: Somebody else knows that they’re not alone. Because I think that one of the hard things for our kids right now is that they feel like they’re the only ones feeling all this anxiety.
I even know moms; I say half of the clients I’m working with right now their kids do not want to go to school. And they’re like, really, they don’t want to go to school. I’m not the only one trying to pull their kid out of bed every morning, and they have all this anxiety, and then it feels a little less.
MAGGIE: I love it. You’re like, Oh, Thank gosh, I’m not the only one that their child doesn’t want to go to school. So what are you doing differently? How are you helping them get on the bus every day? As moms, we need to talk about these things, or we tend to pass judgment. Okay. No, mom is perfect. There’s no such thing. And if you’re striving to be that, you will fail. It’s because you’re never gonna get there.
SHERYL: Yeah. And because your kid is struggling with anxiety is not your fault. Yeah, and I love the part about you talking about how she doesn’t have to talk about it right then and there. But she knows you are there for her when discussing it.
Because that’s tough when they don’t want to talk about it, and you’re trying to get them to open up and talk. Often they’re like, they’re gonna run into the room. They’re gonna hide under the bed.
But how do you draw them out? And even destigmatize; I mean that she told you that she was scratching herself and cutting, that she could tell you that and not hide it. And she felt safe enough to do that. And we want our kids to feel safe enough.
And if they’re not talking, beat yourself up, whoever’s listening, that they’re not talking to you, but to start being able to just be here for you. I love you. I won’t judge you because when they’re struggling, we can panic.
And then we want to fix it. Oh, be grateful. Get out of bed. What’s wrong with you? We might not say what’s wrong with you, but we’re feeling it. That’s when the anxiety becomes even bigger because you’re already feeling crazy.
I remember thinking, and I’m crazy. I had a grandmother who had had get shock treatment. She was depressed. They didn’t know what to do back then. So they sent you to Bellevue type of place and gave you shock treatments.
And then when I started having anxiety, I was like, Oh, my gosh, I’m like my grandma, who I loved very much, but they’re gonna have to take me away in a straitjacket. And give me a shock.
I mean, that’s where in my middle school brain I was going. Your dad went through that. You’re gonna be okay. Nothing is wrong with you. You’re anxious. And I am here. And, just a powerful message to hear from your dad. And our kids need to hear that too.
MAGGIE: Yes, you’re right. I’m trying to get him to come to my show. But he’s very old school. It’s like, well, I don’t know what else to say. I will lead you.
SHERYL: I’m imagining if you could tell me that you’re going to be okay. That he’s he’s dealt with his anxiety and different ways to cope.
MAGGIE: Yes, there wasn’t medicine back then. He had a hard time expressing how he was feeling to my mom. Because she didn’t experience it, so he went to the doctor one day and said that he was like, his whole shoulders are up in his ears. He was, like, clenched. He was just feeling the physical effects – the trauma and the stress.
And he said that the doctor had to give him a tranquilizer, like, that is how they treated it in those days. And he said he just melted in the car. But he didn’t need to go into medicine. Because back then, it wasn’t an option. So he had no backup. He had to do the work. He did the work. He would get up and work out and go on runs.
I always tell him that he was the one that got me into that – I got to move my body and work out. He’d be up on the Nordic track, doing his thing. And he will never admit it. And he probably may not even think it. But that’s probably part of his mental health plan. And he’s a huge reader. So. So yeah, of course, his story was my survival guide.
SHERYL: Well, you say something important there to remember that even if your kid is going through these things, don’t underestimate the model you are for them. Because your dad, amid his PTSD, his trauma, his anxiety, he was still modeling for you, and you are watching, but that you struggled with your anxiety, but you were watching, and that having older kids now it’s I can’t stress that enough.
Even parents are struggling with their kid’s eating habits and that kind of thing. And I’m like, if they just see you, eating nourishing food, trying to process your feelings. Talking about that. Not using that like to fix it, but just being able to share how you’re feeling and name it as they will.
It’s a process, but they glean so much from you modeling it. And that’s beautiful. Like it just comes around full circle. It didn’t mean you didn’t go through it. When you were in the midst of that, you called your parents?
MAGGIE: I hope my kids will rely on and call us when they are older. And it’s also breaking that stigma pattern that I’m afraid of what my mom and dad will think more than I can’t wait to talk to my mom and dad and share with them what I’m thinking or how I feel it’s got to start at home. It does.
SHERYL: Yeah, I want to be that safe. I want to be in that safe place. That is the most important thing that we can do.
Well, Maggie, I always love talking to you, and I love everything you’re doing. And I love seeing you at Beachbody walking across the stage. And I love seeing the pictures you do before and after like I was a depressed mom. And here I am today, crazy, sexy anxiety.
We’re all, we’re all messy, and I think, have Crazy Sexy Anxiety that we can be, we can see amid the mass. We are beautiful, worthy, and deserving of so many good things, and you just embody that and tell our listeners where to find you.
MAGGIE: Thank you, Sheryl. That was beautiful. I appreciate that so much. So I am on all platforms, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok at Crazy Sexy Anxiety. And then I also have a website CrazySexyAnxiety.com and my podcast, which is also Crazy Sexy Anxiety. So you can’t go wrong. You’ll find me somewhere.
SHERYL: That’s a very memorable name. Yeah, crazy, sexy anxiety. I love it.
MAGGIE: Yes, I take the stigma out of it with anxiety. That’s what it is.
SHERYL: Yes.
MAGGIE: I’m very open. I posted my taking my pill and medicine every day and talked about my struggles yesterday. I shared a tough day in my stories because you’re not always going to be positive every day. And if you are, that’s just toxic positivity. And that’s just not that’s not real.
SHERYL: We need each other. So Well, thank you again so much, Maggie, for coming on the show.
MAGGIE: Thank you, Sheryl. I appreciate it. This was fun.
